DARKANGEL:Wonderland
by Jace1
Summary: COMPLETED:This is the PREQUEL to Through the Looking Glass. I'd read that one first. This is when Logan was back in Manticore, live his nightmare.
1. Jace:1 Friendship

"Friendship, love, emotion...all makes you weak. Loyalty, order and discipline is the way you will defeat the enemy, learn that well."  
The greying man paced up and down in front of us, staring at us with his small beady eyes. I tried my best just to look forward and ignore Major Sketch's glare. He scared me in a way I didn't understand, it was like he was a representation of all I hated and loathed. I always tried to banish all my fears to the back of my mind, but they always resurfaced when I was in battle. Overcoming this was hard, but I knew that one day I would master my emotions and become a proper soldier, like Major Sketch said I could be.  
I was sandwiched between Cindy and Brinn, we lined up in order of mark number. I wanted to hold Brinn's hand for comfort, but I knew that would be foolish. There was the overwhelming scare that I would be reprogrammed, we were always threatened with it but it was never used, something all six of us were thankful for. Sketch cleared his throat, a sign that he was close to finishing his speech. He said something along the lines of obstacle course tomorrow and then dismissed us.   
  
We marched out of the room left then right then left following an invisible beat. Dennis led the way into our room and the door was locked behind us. I sighed deeply, but was silenced by Zack. He climbed quickly along one side of the walls, and moved the camera so it was angled toward the door. He locked into position, and disconnected the sound recorder.  
Brinn and Cindy say down together and held hands, waiting for Logan and Zack to tell them a story of the outside. Dennis and I sat together and I smiled as Logan brushed my hair back slightly. Logan was the oldest, followed by Zack and then Cindy. I came next, then Brinn and finally the youngest, Dennis. He was always in need of a companion, partly the reason why Sketch laid into him so much. In a way Dennis is emotionally weak, but aren't we all in someway?  
"Jace? Jace come back to us!" Cindy joked, and prodded me in the side, "Logan's going to start!"  
  
"Yesterday, I was running through the great trees of the forest, when I leapt so high that I saw a bird on a branch, just watching me. I stopped running so I could look at it, and I saw that it had something sticking out of it's wind, so I climbed up the tree, careful not to disturb it otherwise it would try to fly away. I took it gently and climbed back down, and it made a great noise like a 'caw' sound. It was soft like...like the furry leaf Zack found last time we were in Manticore forest. So I placed the bird on the ground, and wiggled the stick out. The bird didn't flinch, didn't fight at all, like it knew I was trying to help it. After ward it flew up and away into the sky, so far into the clouds that I couldn't see it anymore. It made the sun come out, and it shone bright on my face that I had to close my eyes slightly. The sky was blue, and clear, so I could see other birds flying around in it. They were part of a group, just like you and me."  
  
The air was damp the next morning; it had rained for an hour in the night. Dennis and Brinn had gone to sleep but we older people stayed awake. We spoke quietly of the outside, and of escaping from the way of life we lead at the moment. Then a trainer came in, ordered us outside. I woke up the two youngest, and again we marched through the dreary, empty corridors of Manticore. We were taken to the obstacle course, and lined up in an order of turn. Logan, Zack and Cindy had completed the course yesterday, so it was my turn. I felt an excitement in my belly, because this meant a run through the woods toward the end.  
A pistol fired, and my feet took off.  
  
I jumped a two-meter high fence and rolled when I hit the other side. My hands grabbed onto the climbing wall that presented itself afterward, and I pulled my body up and over. On a platform three meters up from the ground I jumped, and swung myself on a rope across to the other side. Water rocked below me, and at the end of the opposite platform I dived into the icy waters and swam. A metal cover slid over the water, there was no means of escape until the end. I swam as fast as I could, incorporating streamlined positions and speed into my stroke. My lungs hurt, but I knew that I was reaching the end of the first part. There was a bubble tank halfway, and I gladly in took air from it. I placed my mouth around the nozzle and in took in two-minute worth of oxygen. I pushed off from the side, and kicked my legs to get off again. The water was getting colder more quickly now, so I willed my body to keep on going. I reached the end, and threw my head up into the air above. I climbed out, and ran again to a target course. I picked up the two pistols in front, and shot down the five signs accurately. I dropped the empty guns, and started the agility part of the long course. I jumped sideways, forward and to the other side, in accordance with the tall island-like posts that stood before me. Each got higher as I leapt onto them. I nearly missed the topmost one, but I grabbed on and swung my legs up and over. There was a long set of monkey bars five meters high above the ground, and there was nothing to catch me below. I pulled myself across; hand by hand, until they'd had gone raw. I dropped onto the safety platform and took a running jump onto another a good three meters away. As I climbed up the platform shook, so I dived off that and onto the ground, rolling again on impact. It almost fell on top of me, but I sprinted away into the forest. There I jumped over the odd log that had fallen and crawled under the bushes that had grown from tree to tree. A small hedgehog was underneath one, and it protectively curled up. That was something to tell Dennis, he loved the stories we picked up from the forest. As I reached the last stretch I was out of breath, so as I crossed the finish line I dropped to the ground, my chest heaving in and out. It was over, for another day at least. But tomorrow, it started all over again...  



	2. Jace:2 Fear

I lay awake on my bed that night, staring out of the window at the starry night sky. That's when hit it me, I wanted out. I wanted freedom probably much more then the rest of them did. I looked over at the sleeping bodies of my friends…no, my family and I wanted them to feel what I was: the stirring emotion of rebellion. I wanted to break through the walls and fall out into the open arms of the world around.  
But I knew that I couldn't, either I would be killed trying or be reprogrammed. And then where would that leave my family? All of them depended each other not to break the chain of friendship we had built up since we were children. Now we are all nearing eleven, with Dennis just going ten or somewhere about. I think that it's too late now; we should of broken out a long time ago, when we were less dependant on Manticore and it's discipline.   
So I will stay here…for now anyway.  
  
Combat training was the main task on Major Sketch's agenda for the next few weeks. We already knew how to bring a grown man down and even kill, but he wanted to advance our training out into tracking and hunting skills.  
We were placed in a large room, with blue mats on the floor and a stage above. We six were lined up, and we went into a ready stance. Logan and Zack were separated from the us, and were set up with another person.   
He performed moves using both his arms and legs in a slightly awkward fashion but the four of us followed. Forward, left, side strike right, side block left, quick strike forward…just continuous patterns we copied flawlessly. He stopped every five minutes and rested. We watched him with curiosity, how his body seemed to be much more frail then ours. Logan and Zack had been taken outside with the other man, why we didn't know. Brinn pulled my sleeve and pointed to three figures going into the forest. I sighed and focussed my attention onto the trainer, who was now conferring with Major Sketch. They were lucky, getting to go into the woods at this time while we were stuck in here doing stupid moves.  
But our luck seemed to change, as the man in front instructed us to march outside. The trees moved in the wind and the noises of birds flying above rose up in our ears. The air was cool, the grass soft as we passed onto it. I drew in deep breathes of the outside, tasting every smell in the air. Everything was so fresh and beautiful, all the flowers blossomed and the great trees above were a deep green. A nice scent wafted past our noses, inflaming the senses…it smelt tangy and strong, it seemed to emanate from the fat trees we were passing as we too walked into Manticore forest. I let my hand brush past the undergrowth and felt that the smelly tree had needle-like leaves on it. I heard Dennis too take a deep inhale of breath and I smiled to myself. He lived for moments like this, where we were allowed to taste the outside.  
  
"This is a tag game, SMS. All of you will be let into the wood separate, and the first person to catch mark 01 or mark 02 will report back to me, here. You are not to neutralise the SMS, just tag them and bring them back. Understand?"  
We nod, and he clapped his hands. We ran into the forest, and I felt the blood pounding in my head. This was what invigorated me, the hunt…  
I climbed up into the highest tree I could find and looked over the small amount of forest visible from here. I heard the crackle of twigs breaking, and the disturbance of undergrowth. I quietly climbed down, and sniffed the air. There was a different smell carried in the again…a familiar one. I crouched down low and watched from behind a log. There was the rhythmical pounding of feet, and the regular breathing in of air. I couldn't see anyone yet, so I shifted position slightly…  
Then I turned quickly and a rustle in the bushes behind indicated that someone was on the run, someone who didn't want to be found. I ran after them, finding their path easily due to the destruction of the moss on the floor. I moved off the pre made path, and ran quietly, but quickly alongside it…then I pounced. It was Zack.  
"Gotcha!" I laughed quietly, as not to alert the trainers to my success.  
"I saw something Jace, that's why I came so close to you…do you want to try and find it?"  
I wouldn't pass up a chance like this, so I helped him up and we moved together through the grass. He led, and as we approached the place I'd been hiding I heard a noise behind. It was moving clumsily, I bet it was a trainer. Zack heard it too, and we moved off into the bushes next to us off the main trail. Sure enough, it was Logan's and Zack's guy, he was parading up and down talking to himself.  
"Don't be scared Bill, god dammit they're only kids…only kids…they respect me, wouldn't hurt me otherwise Sketch would given them hell…" his words grew fainter as he moved off into the trees, and Zack indicated that we were going left.  
We crawled quickly across a patch of dirt, and he stopped us just above a lump of freshly dug up earth, and he put his finger to his lips.  
He pulled out a small wrap of fabric, and slowly opened it. Inside was a small, smooth tooth.  
I gasped and picked it up in my forefinger and thumb. It was clean all over, and perfectly square.  
"Is it a humans?" I whispered to Zack who was covering up the hole again. He took it and looked it over.  
"I think so, I don't know how it fell out"  
"Do you think…do you think that someone was killed here?"  
Zack narrowed his eyes to look into mine.  
"Jace, we are trained to kill…why would it matter if someone was murdered here?"  
I looked around spooked, my imagination was acting up on me. I heard footsteps coming toward us, but then they disappeared. A bird cawed on the tree above, and my head snapped up. I felt my heart race, so I closed my eyes and tried to calm down.  
I remembered hearing a guard talk of ghosts, noises he had heard up and down the corridors at night. I didn't understand what it meant then, but now I felt that we were being watched from all sides, by things we couldn't see  
"A body could be buried somewhere here, under our feet" I whispered, Zack could see that I was scaring myself silly. He took my head between his hands and placed his nose on mine.   
"Calm down…look, I'm going to dump this tooth and we'll forget about it, okay?"  
But I couldn't…  



	3. Jace:3 Flight

That night I sat with Brinn, Cindy and Dennis, while Logan and Zack were being talked to by Sketch. They didn't tell us what they did when they went away, but we always felt more vulnerable when they weren't there.  
We all whispered together on Brinn's bed and I told them about what Zack had showed me today. Dennis held very tightly onto Cindy's hand when I told them about what ghosts were, and my theories about what they did to people. I didn't want to scare anyone…I just felt that sharing my fears helped. I guess that under this hardened Manticore exterior, there was a child who was easily frightened…and lonely.  
"Why do you think they left a tooth?" Brinn asked, she looked as tough and sceptical as ever.  
"I don't know…maybe that's what ghosts eat…"  
Cindy laughed quietly.  
"try not to be scared. A monster we can't see, that's stupid Jace!"  
"It's like the wind," Dennis whispered to us, "we can't see it, but we can feel it…and it can move things"  
I didn't think of that, now I was really scared.  
The door interrupted our talk, Logan and Zack were pushed in. The guard remained at the door, and we all got into bed. I lay on my back, and closed my eyes.  
  
There were noises in the room that I hadn't heard before as I tried to sleep. Logic told me that if I slept, the sounds would go away but my body refused me that privilege. It kept me on full alert, with every hair on end tingling. That's when I snapped. My mind screamed out for safety, and when I looked over to see the others in a deep sleep I panicked more. So I got up and walked quietly over to the door, where there was a dim light on. I could see that there was no one down the corridor, and every fibre of my being cried out for freedom, to get out of these ghost-infested rooms. I pulled hard at the bars, but they moved little. A great creak arose from somewhere and I saw a shadowy figure proceed toward my position. I kicked the air, but as it disappeared I ran full on into the small window that over looked the forest below. The glass smashed, and as I fell I screamed out for someone, my fingers scrabbling at the walls. I landed on the ground hard, and I cut my arm deeply on a bit of metal.  
Then I ran for it. I ran with the wind in my face and the grass below…something was calling for me, something I couldn't see. But I wasn't frightened, no, I was exhilarated.  
The alarms went off in the background but I kept on running toward the forest. People were behind me, how many I couldn't hear so I turned left into a thick clump of bushes and as I slowed, something hit me in the back. I reached around to find a dart, empty now but it once held tranquilliser. As my body gave in, I looked up, and saw birds flying high…like in Logan's story. They were free…free…something I will be soon…I smiled as my eyes closed, I was going to the special world beyond the cruel truth of Manticore…where I couldn't be touched…  
  



	4. Dennis:1 Loneliness

I remember the day when Jace changed. She came back from an early morning training session with needle marks in her neck and arms. She knew who we were, but not our relationship because it had finally happened, one of us had been reprogrammed.  
Jace had been one of my closest friends, the rock I had clung onto for three years while I was going through hell dealing with being locked up.  
Logan, Cindy, Zack, Brinn…none of them were as trustworthy as Jace was. That's what hit me hard, that she was not there anymore…she was a shadow of her former self. And it scared me. Manticore had reduced her to a shell, an obedient puppy with no real mind of her own.  
So I sat alone for most of my time after that. Trying to fight an invisible enemy…as elusive as a ghost. Manticore wasn't just a building now it was a person, someone who could come and take you in the night, without reason or motive. But Zack and Logan didn't allow Jace's turn to break up the relationship we held together. So we kept our group together, while Cindy and Brinn went off and did their own thing. Sure they still cared for Jace, but they realised it was too late for her…and maybe for us too.  
  
Five years later and I still dream of the night Jace broke out of the window in our room, which has been covered over since then. All five of us woke up, but everyone else just turned over and listened to the noise of dogs running after her and the frantic shouts of soldiers. I however, I stood at the hole and watched as Jace ran into Manticore forest without looking back. She had snapped, but I knew that this was just the real Jace revealing herself after too long. I looked up at the sky, and saw birds hovering, flying free. The same birds haunt my nightmares, so I try not to sleep much anymore. I lay awake most nights, listening for the ghosts that walk up and down Manticore, imagining that one of them is the old Jace, looking for us once again…  
  
Being the youngest I find it difficult to tell my older brothers and sisters how I feel, because they usually dismiss it as 'their younger brother being stupid again.' So I keep to myself, during training and free time. I know that they care, but over the years they've hardened and tried to shut out the emotions they feel. A wise move maybe, but it does make things harder for us to communicate, which isn't a good thing.  
Now I'm fifteen, Logan, the oldest, has now gone just sixteen. He's still a strong leader, but recently Zack has been taking charge of things. Logan's sat alone most nights, staring to space. I think that he's been planning something, something he won't tell us. Occasionally he would gather the four of us in a circle and tell us a story. I would listen intently, I was interested in the outside more then anybody else and I didn't hide it.   
Jace wouldn't be in our room half the time; she was taken away and trained by herself. Logan and Zack's extra sessions are now few and far between, it's like the project they were involved in was just dropped for Jace.  
When I look back at the training programs I've been through, all of them were progressively harder. I haven't had a change of routine for a long time…how I've stayed sane is beyond me. Sketch likes to think that we don't get tired and bored, that we are mindless drones who follow orders. The freedom of mind we all have is something that hasn't been broken down after so long.  
  
As we march up through the corridors of Manticore I look into the empty cell blocks and wonder if there are anymore of us in this compound. Now I think of it, why would our line be limited to only six people…it's easy to understand that we are simple tests, the first of our kind…but Sketch is waiting for something, another test maybe. What will happen then, I can't help but ask myself…I have a bad feeling that for the rest of my life I'm going to be a slave to Manticore, a soldier to fight impossible battles and to obey suicide orders. I'm disposable…another thing that scares me.  
  
So this is where I pick up the story. Each day has melted into the next, I fear that soon it will become too much for me to handle. Talking it over with Zack helps, before it was always Jace who was there for me at times like this, when I couldn't stand Manticore and it's confinement.  



	5. Dennis:2 Realisation

  
"Den?"  
I snapped back into reality when Brinn called my name. She was over by the door; her hair was wet after just coming out of the showers. She pulled her light grey dress onto her wet body, and tossed her hair around.  
"What are you thinking about?"  
I sigh. Brinn was a tough girl on the outside for Sketch, but when we were alone she opened up to me. She was the same with Cindy; they were best friends ever since they were kids. I envied it at times; they never seemed to tire of each other.  
"Nothing important. Where are the rest of us?" I inquired as I zipped her up at the back.  
"Exercise room. I've just done an hour running, what have you been doing?"  
I looked at Brinn curiously. She was being a little more nosier then usual.  
"I've been sitting here staring at the wall where our window used to be. Want to join me?" I said carefully, as not to give anything away.  
"Oh. No thanks; I'm going to grab something to eat. You interested?"  
I shook my head, wasn't going to fall into that trap. It'll be questions most of the time from her, probably briefed by Sketch on my behaviour recently and instructed to root out the problem. She left, and I lent my back against the wall again. I got a really good stare going until Jace walked in. She looked at me in a contemptible way and sat down as she wiped sweat off her brow.   
"Jace"  
She looked at me with a blank face, and continued to wipe her forehead.  
"What mark 06?"  
"IT'S DENNIS!" I got up and yelled at her stone cold face, and into her eyes, which looked at me as if I were a lower life form, "Jace…you've lost who you are. You know me, not just as mark 06 but as a person…as a friend"  
She didn't say anything, but as she turned away from the door she smiled the way she did before and whispered, 'I know'. Her face went cold again and she stood up.  
"You are too emotional for your own good soldier."  
Then she walked out, and I felt like a huge weight had been lifted from my heart. The Jace I knew and loved was still alive, but she had used her reprogramming as a shell, everyone thought she was a new and improved soldier and I was happy to know that they were wrong.  
So I went to the exercise room, greeted all my friends and worked off the feelings I felt. In a way 'soldier Jace' was right, I am too emotional. Am I faulty? Even worse, if Manticore finds out, will I be reprogrammed?  
As I ran on a treadmill I focussed my eyes squarely to the small window that looked over the exercise yard and onto the perimeter fence. I could visualise myself running over the hard concrete and onto the grass, then a jump would clear me of the fence.  
"MARK 6!"  
I leapt off the treadmill and stood straight as Sketch marched in. He had the usual army of stiff Manticore soldiers, who eyed me up and down as the Major stopped right in front of my face.  
"The rest of you are dismissed!" he yelled, not taking his eyes off mine. His breath tickled the hairs on my face and ran up my nostrils. I guess that sneezing on him would be too rude so I just stared forward, through him as my friends cleared out. He sent the other men out and stepped back a pace.  
"Mark 3 seems to be concerned about your mental disposition mark 6. We observed your outburst on the security cameras. Assure me that it won't happen again."  
  
What could I do but nod. When he dismissed me I sat alone in our room again, while the others sat in the lunch hall. It looks like I'm the outsider, not Jace…I guess that's why I'm attracting unwanted attention from Sketch.  
I'm afraid that I'm heading down the same road as Jace…the fears of reprogramming float back and forth in my head. The prospect of having who you are taken away is unimaginable, like waking up one morning and not understanding who you are and what you are meant to believe in. They wiped Jace's mind as if she were a computer memory and moulded her back into their idea of a perfect soldier. I hate Sketch… I hate Manticore…I hate the servitude I was born into.  
In quiet moments like this I like of my mother…the mystery sounding all our mothers fascinates me, like are they still part of this operation and do they know what we go through from day to day?  
  
I jump as a voice comes over the intercom. It's for Jace, a female voice calls for her by name. Strange…I don't recognise it. Then Sketch's voice follows, ordering us into the main hall for oral training.   
  
We all march in and sit at our designated desks, I see Jace sitting alone at the back…and through the blacken glass looking over the hall I see a figure…one I can't identify.  
Sketch begins the briefing, or 'oral training' as he likes to call it. Basically he shows us bloody pictures of war scenes, the moments captured by a man on the sidelines as another fellow human was shot or beaten to death by another. I would retch at the site of some, but training usually keeps that in check. I don't know if the others think the same, but when I look at captions of death and war, I see nothing but like beings fighting over insignificant pieces of land. The generals ordering people to die look so narrow minded, and the government officials who are paranoid to think that they must attack to defend their beliefs before another man challenges them. They claim to fight for their country, but they don't really understand what that means…in a way neither do I. I just don't like to fight, I do it when ordered to, but unlike the men in the pictures I don't have a choice. Sketch shows us a picture of a World War 2, when Germany were under the rule of a Hitler, who wanted to purge all impurities from the German blood and land…my body goes cold at the sight of concentration camps where innocent people went to die…  
I awake from my daydream, as there is a noise behind. I see the others turn their heads, so I feel safe enough to do so too. I see a tall woman remove Jace from the hall; she had dusty, sand-coloured hair and wore a long, black coat. I didn't have time to see her face before Sketch yelled for us all to turn back. He went on for a long time about war and how 'disorganised' it seemed to be, and then he told of tactics enforced by leaders of battle. I switched off, and just stared blankly forward, until Sketch cleared his throat and told us of the next activities.  
"You all have had extensive combat and arms training. Now we are going to put them in practise…"  



	6. Dennis:3 Growth

I had a feeling about what he was about to start. We were given handgun each, with only a single bullet in it. Zack looked at me and I could see that all his personal feelings were stored elsewhere, like at the back of his mind. I did the same, and watched as two soldiers pulled a tall, well-build man out of a room. He was dragged over to us, and he snarled at Sketch then spat on the floor in front of him.  
"You have three minutes to get away. If you can escape from my kids then you are a freeman with no charges hanging over your head. Once in the forest you shall find a shotgun with two bullets in it, and I suggest that you run, for once they catch up to you they will kill. Understand?"  
He growled an angry yes and was taken over to the grassy area just before the trees, there he was let go and he disappeared.  
Sketch turned to us and pointed to Manticore forest.   
"He is a threat to you. Once you track him down you will kill him by any means possible. Because…hell, all the people out there are afraid of what they don't understand, what they can't control. They are told what to think by other people because they are too weak to do otherwise. This is why you are special…different…unique even. You will understand this as you grow older with Manticore…"  
We all straightened, and slid our guns into our holsters.  
"Ready. GO!"  
It was like a race. We all ran together with Logan in the lead, and he indicated to group up once in the forest.  
I stopped and tasted the air, as Jace once told me.  
"There's been a disturbance," Cindy said in hand signals. Brinn interrupted and pointed toward a footprint in the wet dirt. Logan crouched down and began to signal a plan of attack.  
"Brinn and Cindy, track the path he made, but keep to different sides of the track. Zack and I will loop around so we have him cornered. Den, you are the best climber we have, you will get up into the trees and cross so you can attack from above. Watch for gun fire, and only use your handguns at a last resort."  
  
He waved us off, and they all disappeared into the forest. It would be a lie to say that my mind was set on the mission, because Jace's words were haunting me again. The ghosts that roam Manticore forest could be real…but my mind made them real. There were so many noises that my eyes couldn't put a body to, then my imagination kicked in making all sorts of wild 'what ifs' and made the animals or people it thought the sounds originated from. It didn't help at all as I leapt silently over from a long extended branch to another. My ears picked up the noise of a heavy-footed person moving clumsily through the undergrowth off to the left. Then I saw Brinn and Cindy, who when they spotted me signalled to move in. I moved over onto the tree overlooking the man, and I hoped that he wouldn't have the sense to stop and gaze upward. Why didn't he run for the perimeter fence? Then Cindy made a noise on a brittle twig he suddenly jumped over a dead log and ran toward the fence as my thoughts suggested. Logan and Zack appeared and indicated for me to drop down and proceed on foot. We all branched off into the forest like dogs hunting in a pack; we all converged in as the man went into a clearing.   
  
Brinn took the offensive and I froze along with Cindy as he fired the gun madly at Brinn, who dodged by running part of the way up the tree, and I breathed again as the bullets landed solidly in the bark. She flipped over and immediately on landing again kicked the man in the head. Logan and Cindy punched in unison from behind, while Zack kept a gun trained on the guy's head. Somehow the man threw Brinn off, so I dropped and kicked him in the neck and chest. Then I punched him in the left lung and as he reeled he revealed a knife hidden in his overcoat. He struck to the left, and scratched Cindy down the arm. She looked at it incredulously and then savagely hit the knife out of his hand. Her face was that of a wild beast and she hit the man in the shoulder, then across the face. Brinn joined in, beating the man down and I too felt an animal feeling of berserk rage. I hit the man hard in the nose until he bled. Zack too watched the bloodshed and kicked him down; he felt the animal side of us pounding in his head. Logan seemed reluctant but when he saw the deep wound on his sister's arm he too moved in and smashed a fist into the man's face. He was bleeding heavily now, his arm was bent out of shape but strangely it didn't sicken me. I had finally reached the right state of mind, that everyone else was a threat to me and my family. I hit the man harder; he gasped one last time and crumpled down into a small ball. I looked over the sorry mess of pathetic human and a thought came to me: This was it, in a way I was now saying goodbye to the young, weak Dennis and welcoming in the hardened Manticore soldier.   
I think that we all changed that day; I believe that we all grew up in our own ways. Where it would go from here, I didn't know…  



	7. Brinn:1 Reflection

I'm not heartless, even though most of my family would like to think so. Manticore squashed my emotions long ago and I find them hard to revive sometimes. When I'm with Cindy I am able to laugh again. Dennis thinks that I am Sketch's eyes and ears but that's wrong…he usually mistakes me being inquisitive for a 'round of interrogation with Brinn'. He doesn't like being around me anymore so I counter by keeping away from him. Zack and Logan keep to themselves, but when they see tempers fraying they bring us all back together. Well…not all of us.  
Jace's reprogramming hit us all hard, but Dennis and Logan the most. For training purposes Logan kept his disappointment and pain to himself, Dennis wasn't as discrete, he was upset for a long time. Now he's only starting to get over it, he found his Manticore 'shell' (as I like to call it, just a coat to hide under when we are asked to murder in cold blood and other difficult things) after we killed that guy a year or so back. I have to admit that he's grown up a lot, which is good for the whole team.  
  
Cindy and I like to sit together most nights and talk about small things like Sketch's attitude or the training we've been through…I sense that soon we'll run out of things to say. But I know that we will always stay the best of friends…if for any reason we slowly drift apart I would feel the same as Dennis, lost and alone in a sea of bodiless faces. It does sound dramatic, but Cindy is the only person who stops me from doing a Jace, just running off into Manticore forest without care in the world.  
  
I sit up in bed now, listening to the noises of owls calling into the night and I begin to understand the old Dennis a little better. There is much out there to be discovered and hopefully, one day I will be out there to see it myself. I can't help but smile as I see Zack looking at me with his head partially under the covers. His bunk is opposite mine, we arranged it so Logan and Zack take the middle two bunks, and then Dennis and Jace are near the window with Cindy and I next to the door. We always are close to the two in charge, which I find a great comfort.  
I smiled at him, then close my eyes and listen for the sounds of daybreak.  
  
The sun rose slowly over the horizon casting a dusky orange light over Manticore forest and as it climbed high onto it's throne in the clouds, the world seemed to stir in its presence. Warmth spread through the land and birds raised their calls up to the blazing ball as it smiled down upon our faces. We all felt something stirring in our hearts, like an understanding of the harmony that seemed to of risen up between all the animals, which roamed freely through the foliage. I breathed in and rose my head up to see nothing but green from my feet to the horizon. I held hands with my family and we all ran over the dewdrop grass to the freedom, which beckoned. And we were all here…even Jace. I looked back at the dark walls over Manticore and I felt like breaking down as the land beneath our feet rushed us back up to the cold reality of our life…and I woke up.  



	8. Brinn:2 Escape

The air was rotten as we marched into the food hall. We were sat at a long table a seat apart from each other, and then served with a slop, which the delusional chefs called porridge. I looked out of the corner of my eye to see Jace right at the end, she was about to eat when the dark woman we had seen many times before walked in and took Jace away. We looked at each other with inquisitive looks on our faces when Sketch told us to continue eating. A cold swept through the air that chilled me to the bone and all the hairs on the back of my neck stood on end. It was like there was something wrong, something that I couldn't understand. That's when it started to rain, hard and forceful on the roof of the halls. Winds battered the windows, and it started to hail heavily. This lasted for two minutes when the winds died down and when we were marched out I took a peek out of the windows I saw a white blizzard fall onto the ground. I'd seen snow before, but not in such a mass. We all looked at it in wonder until we were taken into the gymnasium and instructed to work out. They did this sometimes, just left us alone. This indicated that there was something wrong…  
We craftily moved together and whispered really quietly.  
  
"Did you see the snow?" Dennis said, his eyes bright with excitement. He swung backwards off a climbing bar and hung upside down for a moment.  
Logan smiled and pulled Dennis down as he grabbed onto an overhead rack. Logan swung athletically from monkey bar to monkey bar to land on a platform across from Zack who was sitting at the top of a rail.  
"It looks like it's settling," Zack then remarked before diving off into somersault in the air to land on his feet. He tagged me playfully with a smile on his face. I tousled his blond hair and rolled onto my back. Cindy was clambering up a rope, and she waved as she placed her feet on a stand to pull herself up.   
"Do you think that we'll be able to see it?" I asked quietly. It did look inviting, the fresh and crisp whiteness that had suddenly covered the ground.  
Everyone looked unsure; it wasn't like we regulated our own schedules. We all stared outside for a moment at the bright reflection of sunlight off the snow until Sketch and his goons walked in. He indicated for Logan and Cindy to climb down, and then we all stood to attention. He looked us up and down; I gaze directly ahead so that I don't catch his eye.   
  
"Two mile run, starting in two minutes" was all he had to say. We exited from the gymnasium and I couldn't help but grin. We strapped on some boots then filed out. The start line was from the exercise court, through Manticore forest and a run down the mile long perimeter fence. We all started off together and as a piston went we trod in the soft white snow that crumpled under our feet. There was a taste of excitement in the air as the cold winds whipped our faces and freshly falling snow fell onto our rosy cheeks. Running through Manticore forest was relatively easy, just the now muddy snow impeded progress for a moment. But then as ran together down the fence we spotted a gate that had been left open. We all stopped and saw that the guard was absent…  
  
None of us said anything. Then Logan took the opportunity. He stepped outside, and Dennis followed. Zack looked at them as if they were mad…then I too crossed the boundary. Zack was about to follow and I beckoned to Cindy who was just standing there with a look on her face that scared me. She looked at us if we were all traitors, and as the wind whipped up she glanced up to see the alarm lights start to flash on and off. Then a siren went and I knew that we had made a mistake. Zack immediately stepped back in and indicated to us that he was going to finish the course. Logan nodded; it was like every man for himself. He respected the fact that we were now in trouble and as the siren grew louder Dennis tried to get back into the Manticore compound but the gate slammed shut, and guards surrounded us from all sides. We knew not to fight and that's when it clicked in my mind. This had been a test, set up to see who was loyal to Manticore and who was not. It looked like we had just failed…  



	9. Zack:1 Family

Brinn, Logan and Dennis…they were really disciplined after the fence incident…I had to get out of there too before I was caught. Cindy and I were congratulated by Sketch, but I felt so cold after leaving them there I just let the words drift into the background. I was meant to be looking after my group and I felt that I just let them down. Cindy was a different matter, what was going through her mind I didn't know.  
It was always a game to the major. He truly believed in our cause, that we would revolutionise the way wars were fought. He had no doubt in his mind that what he was doing to us was right, but we all could see that he was a self-righteous son of a b***h who was twisted in ways we can't imagine. But something in me said that he couldn't be doing this alone, sure the US government were funding this program but who was running the entire op?   
I worry a lot about our future; relationships are already cracking…just look at Brinn and Cindy. After Cindy abandoned Brinn outside the gate they didn't talk for days, but when Brinn finally asked Cindy why, the only thing she said was, 'I don't know, it's in my nature', cold or what?  
That was five weeks ago. Time flies fast when your havin' fun, right?  
From day to day I wonder why I'm still here. We've had chances to escape stare me in the face but there was a proverbial ball and chain clipped to my ankle. And that is a deep, and I thought buried, loyalty to Manticore. To my 'home' and to the six people in it, never to Sketch though. Manticore is an infestation, a tumour that has grown inside of me and won't let go. It's there to remind me of what I am and where I belong: inside these walls.  
  
A soldier walks into our room and orders Den, Brinn and Logan out. They're going for more training I guess, and then it's just Cindy and I alone. I've tried to talk to her before but when I look at her words fail me. I hang my head and think back to when I was a child, when Logan was a true leader and so was I. We were the centre of this group and that always assured me that I was important. I was always very solemn, sometimes unwilling to socialise but I cared so deeply for my family. I still do…  
  
The compound was more open to us then usual. As a reward for not escaping (or as a method of persuasion to stay) we could freely walk through the woods but there were now extra perimeter guards on patrol.   
I walked out of my room, aware that someone was tailing me but as I stepped outside into the brisk winter air they dropped back and waited at the entrance. I hated being watched. I hated the people who witnessed this confinement we were placed in.  
Walking through the slightly snow-covered grasses helped calm my disposition, and I ran my fingers through my hair as I thought deeply. The trees of Manticore forest were covered in a crisp whiteness and they all smelt beautifully fresh as I passed them. This was true peace. I tipped my head over to one side and allowed the winds to brush past my cheek. In these private moments I could truly be myself, and as I sat upon a fallen log I looked back on Manticore. Clouds were forming in the sky above…it was like light and shadow as I sat here in the pure snow and the plain walls of Manticore grew darker as I watched. My eyes then caught sight of a slender figure walking toward me...I identified her as Cindy. She was placid as a lake in the middle of a dead heat, no emotions on her face. I compared her to myself, I was always seemed angry with somebody or something, and I let emotions sometimes cloud my judgement. But I was stronger then her, not so much in the physical sense but in the mental, I've resisted Manticore's cold grip for almost seventeen years now but Cindy finally broke. But what Cindy has that I don't is a good sense of humour. She had the power to make us laugh; I just hope that she hasn't lost that talent. She was also very gentle, warm and good to talk to.  
As she strolls up I stand. She looks at me in confusion, and I bow my head slightly.  
"Hello mark 4"  
"Knock it off Zack"  
"I'm sorry, I thought that was the way you liked to be referred to nowadays"  
"Look Zack. I know you hate me for what happened but you can't expect we to act the way all you do. Manticore is more then the confinement you make it out to be, it's your home and my home and it's a way of life. Freedom would be great right now but every time I step out of line one of our group gets hurt in some way. So I figure that maybe Jace's example is one to follow…"  
I interrupted, I wasn't going to stand here and take this s**t.  
"Oh yeah, being reprogramming and having all the individuality sucked out of you is a great way to live Cindy. Don't give me this bulls**t okay? You know how much all of us suffered after she was taken away from us, and here you are applauding Sketch and his twisted plans for a 'perfected soldier' as if he were right. You've changed, Cindy. You used to be so kind and gentle but after you left Logan, Brinn and Den behind that fence you left behind a part of yourself that you will never be able to get back. I ran away with you because of you. If we had all been reprimanded then there would be nobody left to 'suck up' to the Major. What happened Cindy? What happened to that sweet young girl who sat with Brinn and listened with bright eyes as Logan and I told stories?"  
I paused and sat down again, and looked up to Cindy. Her face was a mass of sadness, anger and another unidentifiable emotion.   
"I guess she died…" Cindy muttered, and she walked away.  



	10. Zack:2 Revelations

Dinner was quiet amongst us. We were usually allowed to talk but with four new guards breathing down our necks it was hard to start up what would be called 'unnecessary' conversation. So we sat and ate the lump of some unidentifiable meat, chewing every bite fifty times just to string out this time we had together. As soon as we were finished they took Logan, Brinn and Den away again for a shorter time for one-on-one interviews with Sketch. They were interrogated basically. Jace was always removed and taken to the other side of the compound for advanced training, and leaving just Cindy and me. The silence between us had grown since I yelled at her, and somewhere deep down told me that I would be sorry.  
Cindy and I sat alone in our room; I watched her use a small piece of rock she had found in the woods to file down her nails. She ignored my gaze, so I got up and walked over to her bed. I saw tears in her eyes and as she turned around to me I saw the old Cindy. I wrapped my arms around her, for one moment time seemed to slow and I could feel Cindy's heart beating quickly in her chest.  
"I'm so sorry…"she muttered but I just held her tighter.   
The mood was broken when two beefed up guys came to take us for combat training. We walked slowly into the old hall where Logan, Brinn and Dennis were waiting. They wore specialised combat uniforms, which were grey all over, with a separate top and pants. There was a transparent plastic area of the right shoulder were our brand marks were. Logan nodded to acknowledge me, and we all stood in line.  
  
We were presented with a young man each, we were meant to practise our combat skills on them. This was usual practise, it was sad to think that we would be the last things they see.  
A whistle blew, and all five men took stances. They had basic hand-to-hand combat training, one could tell by their positions.  
I felt the blood pounding in my head. All my body was alert and awake, and as our whistle blew I felt the animal that we all suppressed re-awaken. I throw the first punch, unaware of how the others were fighting.   
He blocks, and he tries to hit me. I move my head out of the way, and release a volley of orderly punches directed toward is chest. I drop down and give him a crescent kick, and as I jump up again I hear him utter the words…  
"Oh s**t…"  
Another guy next to me, dealing with Logan yells out to anyone listening,  
"THESE KIDS ARE D@MN MUTANTS!"  
We all pause and look at each other. Our feelings are communicated throughout our group and with immense anger we lash out at the stunned men.  
I kick twice in his chest and thrust my fist upward to break his nose. He yells and as he steadies himself I jump high, and as I see the fear in his eyes I kick him hard in the forehead. He goes down, and grunts as he falls unconscious.  
I look at the others and watch as Logan knocks down his guy. Everyone else had finished, they preferred to kill quickly. Logan and I have little fun nowadays so we string out the time it takes us to take down an opponent. We stand to attention again, and the men are dragged away. We too are then sent out, and back to our room where we again get to be together.  
  
Logan, Den and I leave Cindy and Brinn to talk. They have a fair bit to sort out, so we go to the exercise area.   
"What has it been like?" I asked the guys. Logan sat on a rowing machine, and looked up at me.  
"The training isn't a problem, just extra push ups at the end of the day and an extra mile run every other evening. The only thing is Sketch is breathing down our necks, whispering in our ear that we are traitor. We are faulty machines he says, that are going to be fixed. It is really driving me up the wall"  
Den nodded, he was staring absent-mindedly out the window, and basked in the sunshine.  
"At least we're outside more," he whispered, a weak attempt to lighten the mood.  
Logan coughed and turned his back on the security camera that was now focussed on us.  
We broke it up, Logan and I went down into Manticore forest, if Sketch had a problem with it then he can cram it up his @ss. Dennis went back to our room to check on Cindy progress with apologising to Brinn.  
  
"It's getting worse." I say to Logan as we walk over the grass and into the clearing of bushes and trees.  
Logan sighed deeply, he could see it too.   
"I haven't been doing much to keep our group together…our friendship has hit the rocks and there are too many insecurities between us now. Brinn will never trust Cindy again, Dennis is too isolated to express his feelings and Jace…Jace is another matter entirely. I can't see where we can go, Zack. The future is hard to visualise now, before it was all routine…we knew were we all stood when we woke up and when we slept. Now everything seems so crazy…I'm worried that it is irreparable"  
We step into the clearing and sit on the cold ground behind a thick tree trunk. I rub some dirt in-between my hands and flick a small bug off my pants.  
"I think that Sketch is cleverer then we thought" Logan said. I stared at him, and furrowed my eyebrows.  
"What do you mean?"  
  
"He planned this, I bet. Jace's reprogramming, Cindy's betrayal and the discipline we've been facing? It all adds up if you think about it the way that Sketch does. HE saw the friendship we had built, where the strengths and weaknesses were. Jace was good friends with Den before she went mad. Cindy and Brinn were tight before something clicked in Cindy that we hadn't seen coming. And now, we, the two oldest have been separated for most of the spare time we have together. Doesn't that say something? He's seen this as a way to kill two birds with one stone; the way to keep us apart, from developing feelings and emotions and a way of exploiting our weaknesses to make us better soldiers."  
  
I lent back and rubbed my face with my hand. He was right, it all seemed so clear now.  
"What are we going to do about it?"  
"I have an idea. We escape"  
My heart jumps at this sudden show of rebellion. Was Logan nuts?  
"Oh yeah, we just tell Sketch we quit and waltz on out of here. Hey, we're only genetically enhanced soldiers, we won't be noticed!"  
Logan sighs again and looks impatient.  
"Let me explain Zack. Do you like that we will spend all our lives hidden behind the walls of that building after being trained for over seventeen years of our life? No. Sketch has told us himself that we are going be out there fighting wars…out there, don't you understand Zack?"  
"You say that on our first field mission we go AWOL? They'll be watching our movements day and night, and how can we even guarantee that no one will tell before we can make this work?"  
Logan was silent for a moment.  
"When we are sent out, everyone will have the opportunity to run. How they evade I don't know, but when the opportunity arises, I am not going to let it pass me by"  
  
He left me alone with my thoughts, and I realised Logan was right. Staying in Manticore all my life...would be a waste.  
  



	11. Zack:3 Mistakes

Night was a good time for me. We were made to sleep every two days to keep our energies up, and those quiet moments when all the wildlife had gone to sleep and there was no noise of guards marching up and down the corridors was the times that I snuck out of our room and up onto the roof.  
This was a place I kept to myself, no one saw me leave and no one saw me return.  
  
The sky was bright with pin pricks of stars and a wave of loneliness swept over me. There was a huge stretch of land just over the perimeter, miles and miles of no-mans land where no one usually came down. It seemed so far, but the miles only existed in my mind, as did the boundary. It was cold this night, and the air was damp, indicating an impending thunderstorm. As I thought this a flash of distant lightning came from in front of me and struck the plain below. I stood up from my position and climbed down the pipes that lead to the iron roof. I should get inside before Dennis wakes up, as he always does when he hears the crash of thunder and the drilling noise of the hard rain that follows.  
I paused on a ridge halfway down, and looked out over the grounds below. Stillness came from all around and I felt the animal in me screaming out for me to jump and just run…run fast with the winds in my face and the rain on my back. But my common sense then said that would leave my family in a very difficult position, and the mood was lost as quickly as it arose.  
  
The morning's activities were few and far between for Cindy and I. We still had normal training and classroom times scheduled, but they had been still lax recently due to many trainers being off ill with sickness. Cindy always marvelled at the normal human condition, the constant rebound of disease, illness and then more disease. She used to joke about that…and I stress the 'used'.  
This morning Cindy was in the females' bathroom messing with her hair. She had grown a fascination with the long brown curls that had grown over the past five years, Sketch always insisted that she was to keep it up but straight after training she would drop it again. I was surprised he didn't order a goon to come and chop it all off.  
As always I stayed in the exercise room for most of the morning, only leaving when we had instruction with Sketch.  
It got colder all of a sudden, strange because there had been a recent heat wave that had hit Manticore in the past three weeks.  
Then a huge explosion of noise and sound came from a bit down the hall, I jumped off the treadmill, pulled my shirt back on and ran out of the exercise room. I saw smoke drifting across the top of the ceiling, and as I neared the source of the explosion I saw Cindy enter from the outside.  
"What the hell is happening?" I yelled at her over the noise of smaller crashes. Instantaneously two soldiers bolted down the corridor, one stopping to fill us in.  
  
"The boiler…" he began, breathlessly conveying the news, "exploded…how we don't know but…the pipes…the pipes above the main hall have collapsed…"  
  
Cindy's eyes grew wider and her tone was that of panic as she interrupted.  
  
"Brinn, Logan and Dennis are in there!" she yelled, and the guard nodded.  
  
"So is Sketch!" He yelled back before taking off in the direction of the boiler room.  
  
I broke off into a sprint, with Cindy close behind as we headed toward the hall. Two guard attempted to slow as down but we knocked them down as we turned the corner and saw the heaps of rubble and metal pipes all over the large area below. To our surprise, as we stopped we saw Jace beginning to lift the rock as best she could off the four buried under. Our eyes connected, and she yelled:  
  
"HELP ME!"  
  
We dived onto the rocks and saw Brinn's hand lying out of a crack. Cindy and I pulled the largest rock off her body and as Cindy carried her off she pulled the two dazed soldiers up by the collar, demanding her help.  
I pulled a series of rocks off Logan, who's leg was a little worse for wear but he managed to get up and help locate Dennis. Cindy and Jace worked together to help our baby brother, and by chance, out of the corner of my eye I saw a leg and the lower back of a man stick out of a pile of rubble. It was obviously Major Sketch. I heard a low groan and I heard something in my head say:' HELP HIM GODDAMMIT!" I went forward, but then something else said to stop and walk away. What I mean is that this was the man who destroyed Jace, who has tormented us for over seventeen years now. My Manticore training triumphed over my own free will though, and I began to pull a pipe off the fallen man. I looked up to see Jace above me, her face not displaying any emotion, boy that scared me. But then she reached down, and as we pulled the large tube off Sketch I looked into her face and there was a message there that I was surprised to see.   
Sure enough, we rescued him, and we were congratulated. All three of my family were laid up for a while, but only with slight breaks in the legs and a concussion. Sketch was fine too though, but that day I shall remember for a long time.  
  
I may have made a mistake in saving Sketch, but in the process I discovered something startling in Jace. You see the message she conveyed to me was:  
  
"Are you sure?"  



	12. Cindy:1 Home

I have noticed so much change during my life, a restricted life it may have been but an eventful one all the same. As I get into my twenty-third year a revelation comes upon me, that somewhere deep down the child that used to look up at Logan and Zack with loving eyes has truly been lost in a sea of orders and discipline. It does not sadden me however, as in many ways I have not lost, but have gained. I am a stronger person for it, I matured quicker then my brothers and sisters, allowing me to cope with the major problems in my life including Jace's reprogramming and my break up of friendship with Brinn. I have made many mistakes along the way, like watching my baby sister being hauled away after she tried to escape. At the time I didn't understand why she did what she did, I was still a slightly immature child and like to put a strong front on things so that my true emotions wouldn't show or my insecurities.  
Though my body and part of my mind follows orders and absorbs the lessons taught to me, I allow the other section of my consciousness to soar free and explore possibilities. When I was young I played the 'What if' game with Brinn, she would ask me what my life would be like if I wasn't a soldier. I answered to her that I would live in a house with lots of furniture, have a slave to rub my feet everyday and an endless supply of shampoo and nail files. Brinn would laugh every time she heard that, and then she too would disclose to me her life if it hadn't of turned out as it did.  
  
But I stopped playing that game as my mind did indeed cry out for that sort-after freedom. I realised after the fence incident that the idea of freedom seemed to end up hurting in some way, and that distancing myself from it looked to be a good idea. Logan shared a revelation of his own once, that the lessons when we were shown projections of war and death weren't only to show us how tactical manoeuvres were figured out and used but to show us what happens when so many people fight for that same idea of freedom. In most cases, the oppressed won, but not without the expense of thousands dying.  
So, it's not the case that I love the way Manticore imprisons us, but the protection it offers from the chaotic world outside.  
  
"Tighten your lower back, soldier!" Sketch yelled in my ear as my mind switched back onto the lesson.   
My stance was sloppy, so I strained the muscles in my back to straighten my posture and returned my focus to the wall in front.  
"Yes Sir!" I replied and he checked it again.   
Without a word he moved on to find a flaw in Zack's ready stance. No respect from my number guy, hey, that's life.  
  
It's hard training from here on. Sketch has stepped up our schedule, adding classroom lessons into any free slot we have and training us in harder and more complex hand-to-hand combat. That can mean only one thing: Our first mission.  
  
Sketch watched as I climbed up the rope centred in the middle of the room and then swung my legs over to meet the bars parallel to me. From there climbing up to the top of the apparatus isn't difficult, but it's hard to impress Sketch these days.  
As soon as I get to the top, he dismisses the rest of my group and orders me back down.   
  
"We have a potential threat to this operation. Doctor Tinga Davis has refused to continue on in this project, which is unfortunately to say the least."  
He licked his thin lips, and stood up straighter. Why he was telling me this, I didn't know but it has shed some light on what had been going on.  
"Frankly mark 03, we have been observing your groups behaviour for the past 23 years as you may expect, and our studies have shown that mark 01 is not as reliable as you are. As mark 04 is now the Chairwoman's project I can not place her in charge of the mission purely because she is too valuable" he rolls his eyes at this point, "so I am placing you in charge of the mission, but undercover as this sudden change may arouse suspicions among the rest of the SMS. Do you understand?"  
  
"YES SIR!" I yelled, and I straightened to salute.  
  
"Dismissed"  



	13. Cindy:2 Jealously

It was difficult that night, my eyes seemed to wonder over to Logan and then they rested there, examining every inch of his face just to see whether they could identify what was going on in his head. I fiddled with my brown curls, alone in one part of the room, as now I seemed to be the isolated one. To my surprise however, I noticed Zack get up from his conversation with Brinn, who I have noticed have become very close, and walk over to me.  
  
"What's going on?" he asked in his normal, straight to the point way.  
"What do you mean?"  
"You've staring at Logan all night" his mouth was set in a frown as he lent against the wall next to me.  
"It's nothing important Zack"  
  
Zack was about to push some more but the Queen of Ice walked in. Jace had been extremely quiet recently, more then usual and her arrival prompted us to break up the private conversations we had been having. Brinn and Zack walked down the hall together, and I followed them. You can't blame me for being interested in a friend, can you?  
  
I hide partially behind the doorframe and listened to the conversation. It was mostly idle chitchat, but even I could sense there was a growing tension between them. Suddenly they were quiet, for a moment I thought that they had discovered that I was eavesdropping, but as I peeked around the side I saw them holding each other, eyes closed and I witnessed them bring their lips up to each other, and they kissed.   
The Manticore in me said to report this violation, but then the sister in me spoke up for the first time in a while to say that staying out of this was a good idea. I looked around the edge of the room for cameras, but none were on as Brinn and Zack were together, they kissed slowly and to my surprise a jealousy sprung up inside me…so I left them.   
  
That night most of us were outside, however it looked like Brinn and Zack were exploring their newly found 'friendship' so they were no where to be seen.  
  
Logan, Den and I sat in Manticore forest, something we hadn't done for a few years. Lying on our backs we stared up at the stars in the sky, listening to the last birds fly down and nest in a tree above.  
  
"Do you remember the day when we had to hunt down that convict in the woods?" Dennis whispered. His light blonde-brown hair was lying in the mud, but he didn't seem to care. Although I was careful not to get dirty, I rolled over toward Logan who was lying in the middle to quickly look at his face before rolling back over again.  
  
"Cindy, I wish you'd stop doing that!" He said, putting a smile on his face. He rubbed the slight stubble that had grown up over the years, and sat up shake the dirt off his back.  
  
"Sorry, I get uncomfortable!"  
  
"No, I mean looking at me!"  
  
I blushed, but to hide it I got up and dusted myself down. Dennis tried to grab at my foot, and ended up tripping me up. I rolled over, only to be pinned down by Logan.  
  
"Are you going to tell me?" He teased, and I resisted the temptation to…well, I just pushed him off and walked out of the forest. Dennis asked me where I was going, so to keep him off my back I yelled something about my nails being mucky and ran off.  



	14. Cindy:3 Bonding

The thought of kissing Logan ran through my mind again, and I got the distinct impression that I needed something to suppress the feline DNA. I went into the main compound and to the on call doctor, who confirmed that I was going through the first stages of heat. She asked whether any of the other female SMS were too displaying strange behaviour, but I shook my head. I wanted to keep my theories to myself at this point, so after receive a drug shot to suppress it I ran up the stairs to our barracks.  
  
As I entered, I saw Brinn and Zack fast asleep in the same bed. I cold shiver ran through my body, I hoped with all my heart that they hadn't made love while the camera was on…no in fact I hoped that they hadn't at all. I checked the camera, it was off, disabled by a wire breakage at the back. I saw Brinn stir, and for their benefit I ran out and slammed the doors on the way. I heard scuffling inside, and walked in slowly to see that they were now awake and in separate beds. I smiled at Zack, but grabbed Brinn lightly and took her outside. I took her back into the exercise area, where the cameras were still disabled.  
  
"Brinn…" I started, for the first time in a long while I felt extremely ill at ease.  
  
She looked at me, she had that expressionless face she always used for Sketch but it didn't fool me.  
  
"Brinn, I'm going to be blunt okay? I know that we haven't talked in a while…well, that was my fault, but I need to know something"  
  
She gently took my arm and smiled at me.  
  
"It was bound to happen Cindy, I don't blame you for it, what is it?"  
  
"Well," I began again, but felt so stupid that I turned around to the window and rested my palms on the sill, "oh dammit Brinn, did you have sex with Zack?"  
  
Brinn froze as I turned around. I felt so hot, burning in fact because it was very unlike me to ask these sorts of questions.  
I sat her down on a bench and then moved next to her, trying to suppress the embarrassment.  
  
"You…umm, god this is unexpected. No, we didn't, I didn't…Zack and I aren't…. well, like that…not at the moment anyway? Did you walk in on us when…"  
  
I nodded, and she rubbed her eyes and held her cheeks.  
  
"I can see how it might of looked...Zack and I are close, you probably noticed that…I was…look Cindy, I don't know how it happened, okay? But we did not do anything that may get us in serious trouble… I got into my bed, and he sat on the edge of mine and he just, gave me a hug and I pulled him under the covers as a joke…god…this is too weird"  
  
Brinn got up and tried to cool herself off. She tested her pulse, and then looked at me.  
  
"Are you running a bit fast, Cindy?"  
  
"I had my heat shot Brinn, it's about that time of the month, you know?" I said, then Brinn's expression changed and it was that of relief.  
  
"Oh I see, you thought that I was going through heat and I…no Cindy, he would of, well stopped me, I didn't know you cared"  
  
There was a slight ache when she said that, the rift between us had indeed grown so much that she believed that I didn't care anymore. I got up and hugged Brinn. Her breath was ragged, and she looked at me with wild eyes.  
  
"Can you take me to the doctor? I want to get this sorted out before I see Zack or any guy for that matter."  
  
I took Brinn by the arm and lead her down the corridor, being careful to steer away from the SMS room and the halls where the mostly male soldiers stood.  
I walked in with Brinn who by now was sweating up a storm, and as a male nurse walked in I made the doctor shoo him out. I sat with Brinn while she had her heat shot, and smiled as I took her hand. I knew that the friendship we had wouldn't return, but in its place a new one maybe forged.  



	15. Cindy:4 Beyond the castle walls

Training the next morning was easier then usual, I felt happier in the knowledge of the up coming events and that Brinn and Zack seemed happy. But I couldn't rid myself of a jealous feeling…  
I shook off these thoughts as we were directed into a classroom, and by the picture projection on the wall I saw that the rest of my group were going to find out about the mission. But that thought set me slightly on edge, if Logan found out about my job in this then surely he'd be seriously pissed off with the fact that I was really in charge of it all. I didn't even know if he cared about such things.  
  
The mission was simple to all of us, we were to pair off as we pleased and play tag with Davis. She was spotted down in an area close to Manhattan, and when we found her we were instructed to dispose of her in a clean fashion. Everyone seemed cool about that, but I saw a slight annoyance on Logan's face as Sketch informed us that we had to report in every five hours. Was he up to something? An instinct told me that he was…but in any case proof is needed, so again I kept that to myself.  
We were to start out late on Saturday afternoon, 10:00pm to be precise, and as we exited the briefing room I saw a smile break out onto Dennis' face. This was what he had been waiting for all his life, a chance to go outside. What I was worried about was whether he would want to return again after tasting the outside.  
  
Sleeping that night was hard. There was excitement in the air, Dennis and Brinn wouldn't lie still in their beds as they tried to rest, but would turn over every hour. I rolled over onto my back, only to be prodded by Logan who was next to. He indicated to the back of the room, where Zack was crouching. I got up quietly and sat next to the boys, and between us we whispered.  
  
"What's the matter?" I said, yawning hard. It was too early for me.  
  
"It's the mission, Cindy, you do know that some of them," Zack nodded toward the three sleeping figures, "will try to escape during this mission, don't you?"  
  
I paused before answering. Were they testing my loyalty?   
  
"Yes…I had a feeling they'd try to, why are you telling me this?"  
  
Logan shifted on his feet. He sighed and rubbed his chin.  
  
"Cindy, if we want to escape, then we will all have to it together"  
  
I tried to refrain from looking surprised, so instead I nodded in agreement.   
The conversation continued on, the two of them plotted between the best way to evade the guards and placed patrols. I made an excuse to go back to bed, but thoughts ran through my mind. Who was I loyal to, Manticore or my family? I came to a decision, based upon what I knew of my group. I'd wait until we got out there, by then I expected that they wouldn't be able to run from Manticore, the plan would fall apart. I corrected myself afterward, I didn't expect, I hoped.  
  
Training was quick on Saturday morning, the day was spent finalising the mission. Each one of us was carted into Sketch's office to be interviewed just so that he could route out any possible traitors before the plan backfired on him. In my interview, I stopped myself from doing in my family before they had committed to the plan. Though, I had promised to myself that I was loyal to them up to a certain extent. After that, Manticore was my family and I was loyal to it.  
During the afternoon I tried to stay out of my families way, so I spent the day training hard and only took a break to eat. One question that remained unanswered was whether Jace was coming too. I decided to exercise my new right as group captain to ask Sketch whether I was to be in charge of her as well.  
  
"Is mark 04 coming…that is an intelligent question soldier. Yes, I regret to inform you, she is. Handling her will not be the difficulty, I assure you that she is loyal to Manticore, and Manticore alone. But mark 04 will have more freedom then your group will, that is on special orders from the Chairwoman. Remember soldier that until you see mark 01's loyalty changing only then you take control of the group"  
  
Finally the day arrived, it felt that our lives had been building up to this moment. We were loaded up with provisions, money and orders. Late afternoon we were driven down to the gates, where we were passed onto an unmarked bus where we boarded. The air was cold inside, and we all sat in groups of two just to keep warm. Jace was silent and stone-faced, but Dennis still sat next to her and held her hand. We watched the walls of Manticore disappear into the distance for the first time, I didn't know about the others, but I felt anguish as if a part of me had been torn away. So I forced my eyes to look through the window, to see the new landscapes that stretched out in front us. It was breathtaking once I shut Manticore into the back of my mind, but my orders rushed around my head, causing my pulse to race. I was in a state of panic, there were a lot of people depending upon me to do a duty, part of me wanted to do it quickly so that I could return to the safety and familiar rooms of Manticore. I allowed my imagination to walk through those corridors again, remembering where everything is and who everyone was. Now I felt lost in a bizarre and backwards world which had no safety…it was too frightening for me to think about. So I looked at Dennis, and analysed his expression to see what was going on in his mind. Whether he had thought about it as deeply as me I didn't know, but I could read what he was feeling now, and that was freedom and sense of excitement. It helped me relax knowing that the youngest of us was okay, and as I gazed at everyone else I saw to that they were relaxing. I took Brinn's hand and smiled at her. It was a false feeling though. I was scared. Scared in a way I didn't understand.  
  
We remained silent all the way to Manhattan not sleeping at all, which, to our amusement, the drivers had to do every five hours to rest their eyes. Logan joked that he would do it for them, and the atmosphere on the small bus lightened slightly. I had a feeling in my breast as if I was ill, it took me a moment to realise it was anticipation I felt for what we would see.  



	16. Opportunities arise

The skyscrapers of the great city rose up in front of the small bus as it approached its final destination. The building's stood as quivering silhouettes against the blackened sky, and as the sun's brilliance cascaded over the land the silver towers that seemed to pierce the dark awoke with a clash of light. The peeks were well defined as the sun climbed over the horizon line, trying to take its place in the skies as the whole town erupted into life. The coach roared through the dirty streets, passing clumps of homeless, hungry people who stood as ants in comparison to the magnificent works of man that looked down on them. The blackness of the night ebbed away to show a blue that added to the striking scene that was the focus of the band of six. High, fluffy clouds drifted sleepily in the sky as the morning was finally upon the tired people of Manhattan, who seemed to ignore the structures that stood tall around them. Logan and his group stepped out into the awe-inspiring place that they were now apart of, even Cindy forgot the rip in her heart that was left by Manticore as she surveyed the scene. All six of them looked at each other, and a new bond fixed their last moments together as a mark in time. Logan smiled to his family, and whispered to all,  
  
"See you on the other side"  
  
Day 2 09:00  
  
All six reported in one time this morning at 06:00 hours. Mark 03 has given information as to the groups over all productiveness; she says that mark 01 and 02 have been co-operating with the plan. They have as yet been unable to locate Doctor Tinga Davis.  
  
Report ends: Filed by Major Sketch Lydecker  
  
Day 2 18:00  
  
Mark 05 reports a sighting of Doctor Davis north of the city. All units have converged in on the area, however mark 04 has continued to scout the city of her own accord. We assume that she is under orders from the chairwoman.  
  
Report ends: Filed by Major Sketch Lydecker  
  
Brinn and Zack stopped as they turned down the back street in downtown Manhattan. They listen intently to the noises around, and then Zack whirled around, grabbing a hooded figure who tried to go up behind them. Brinn grabbed an arm and forced a small hand knife out of their fist. She pinned him to the wall, and Zack pointed a small handgun at his head.  
  
"We've asked nicely, now tell us where Tinga Davis is!"  
  
He gulped and his eyelids flickered. Zack removed the safety from the gun and placed it between his eyes.   
  
"She's…left the city…" he said before falling into a coughing fit. Brinn let him crumple to the ground, and Zack switched his radio on.   
  
"Mark two reporting in. Contact turned up possible lead, Davis looks to have left the city"  
  
He turned it off, and wrapped his arms around Brinn. She gave a self-conscious smile, then her body relaxed and she put her head on Zack's chest.  
  
"Brinn, we can't ignore an opportunity we have here," Zack began, "we all know that this mission gives us a freedom that we have never had…Brinn, do you…"  
  
Brinn put a finger to Zack's lips. She kissed him, and rested her nose on his.  
  
"Zack, this may sound strange…but I can't leave Manticore. It's not what you think…it's…"  
  
"Cindy?" Zack finished. Brinn nodded, she was surprised that it was that obvious.  
  
"I can see that she has become very dependant on Manticore, I can't leave her there…I have to make sure that she doesn't turn into a completely mindless soldier…I'm sorry"  
  
"You have nothing to be sorry for…" Zack said, and he held her closer.   



	17. Awakenings

Day 5 18:00  
  
The deadline for checking in was extended as planned. All SMS reported nothing; a search of the outer perimeter did not turn up anything. Recovery units Alpha through Gamma has began searching further out of the city, and the SMS have spread out around the area. Mark 01 has moved onto an area just to the east Manhattan, marks 02 and 05 have continued scouting the centre. Mark 03 has continued a seeming randomised search pattern of the city. Marks 04 and 06 are yet to report in at this time.  
  
Report ends: Filed by Major Sketch Lydecker  
  
Dennis sat alone in a small, downtown diner eating what only could be described as crap. He looked over at the phone, then back down at his supposed sloppy joe.   
  
"Mark 06 you are late reporting in"  
  
Dennis looked up to see Jace standing over him.  
  
"Last time I checked, Jace, you were late reporting in too"  
  
"Unfortunately mark 06, my orders are slightly different from yours. I suggest you report in before you are removed from this operation"  
  
Dennis dropped his food and looked at Jace as if to say: 'You happy?' She, however, ignored the look and observed Dennis as he picked up the phone, listening to Sketch giving him the third degree.  
  
~*A week later*~  
  
Logan stepped down from the bus heavily as it pulled into a bus station to an area several kilometres outside of Manhattan. He hated long rides, especially under the observation of two heavily armed soldiers.  
The air was damp as Logan breathed in; he coughed slightly due to a think layer of smog around him.  
Logan slung his bag over a shoulder and went off house hunting.  
  
Day 12 9:00  
  
All SMS report no trace that Tinga Davis was in Manhattan. Mark 01 has proceeded in an out of perimeter search, marks 02, 03 and 05 have moved onto three separate out of town locations. Mark 04 reported in with a possible contact of Doctor Davis, she is moving on to the city of San Francisco.  
  
Report ends: Filed by Major Sketch Lydecker  
  
"Hey Zack"  
  
Logan placed his cell phone onto his other ear as he dumped his bag down on the floor of an abandoned hotel room. He looked into a small, en-suite bathroom and saw that hot water was still being fed into the pipes.  
  
"How are you doing Logan? We're having a blast over here"  
  
Logan smiled and rubbed his eyes with his spare hand.  
  
"Any luck over there? I'm thinking about settling down for the night, after having Manticore flunkies breathing down your neck all day you get a bit pissed off"  
  
"It's slow here. Cindy's been pushing us hard…look Logan…" Logan sat down on the bed in the room, he had been expecting bad news, "I'm going to try and sort this out with Cindy, okay?"  
  
"Bye bro" Logan said, he had a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach that he wouldn't hear from Zack again. He shut the phone up and placed it into his pocket. For a while he just sat with his hands on his lap, looking out of the small window opposite. That was freedom, as voice in his head said. And it told him to reach out and grasp it before it slipped out his fingers.  
  
Logan shook these thoughts off, and walked into the bathroom. He tested the shower, and after warming up the water he stripped and climbed in. He didn't realise how tired and hungry he was until his eyes began to close, he grabbed a towel from next to the toilet and shook it out, only to dislodge a spider. He towelled himself off and pulled on a clean shirt and pants. Logan climbed onto the bed and fell asleep almost immediately, with the last words Sketch said to him floating around his head…  
'…We will hunt you down and kill you as if you were nothing but a worthless dog…'  
  
When Logan woke up it was dusk, and as he shook off a slight feeling of nausea. His stomach instructed him to get up and fetch some food, and of course when he was told to do something, he followed. He brushed his hair through once, and picked up a wad of dollar notes from his bag, hey he thought, it's all expenses paid!  
  
As he wondered through the streets of the town he noticed how run down it was. There were clumps of homeless people wondering around, many closed down shops and very few cars parked around. He walked into a large supermarket, one of large chain of shops that had managed to stay a float after the Crash. Sure, they had been informed of what had happened to the community around Manticore in classroom lessons, at that time the full extent of the damage didn't seem realistic to him but now…now it just seemed freaky.  
  
The supermarket was cold as he walked in; he picked up a basket and piled in cans of drink as he passed them. He noticed a couple out of the corner of his eye, they kissed as he passed, he observed as they broke it off and stared lovingly into each others eyes. Logan felt his heart ache for that ability to invest his emotions in something else; he had kept them locked up for too long. He sighed, and again the voice said that if he were free, then all this would be open to him…and 24-hour grocery shops.  



	18. End ~V.Short~

Day 13 18:00  
  
Outside sources indicate that Davis has moved south, units Gamma and Zeta have increased their search pattern. Marks 02 through 06 reported in on time, mark 01 has yet to report in. Mark 03 has moved down to find the group leader.  
  
Report ends: Filed by Major Sketch Lydecker  
  
"Logan?"  
  
Cindy moved into the small hotel room, pushing open the door and coughing as she stirred dust from the frame. As she stepped inside the room looked undisturbed, except for a pile of folded sheets and a towel dumped on the floor.  
  
Cindy opened her cell phone and connected up to base. She wondered over to the window, and her gaze followed the road leading into the nearest town. She jumped as Sketch's voice came over the phone.  
  
"Well, mark 03?"  
  
"Sir, I think we have a possible AWOL soldier"  
  
"Affirmative mark 03. Report back to meeting point, units Alpha, Beta and Gamma will round up marks 02 through 06"  
  
Cindy shut the phone up, and put it into her pocket. She sat on the bed, and ran her fingers over the bed sheets. She began to cry lightly, and this time she didn't hide it. She knew that the next time she saw Logan, they wouldn't be friends…but enemies.  
  
"I'll miss you boo, and I'm sorry…for the way this turned out"  



End file.
